Description
The Abode of Fancy tells the story of a young Dublin man, Simeon Collins – lonely and desperate for love – whose friendships with a loosely associated group of elderly, alcoholic men yield a grim picture of his own probable future life. It also tells the story of the Mad Monk, a mythical god-man, who returns to Ireland, eager to find his long-dead brother Elijah. And then there’s the lovesick hare, the ghostly skeletal bull, and the barmy banshee Maggie Nutmeg Devlin. As the stories progress, the two worlds draw closer and closer, interweaving to fuse reality and fantasy in an exhilarating extravaganza that explores the nature of loneliness, the impossibility of love, and the possible consolations of friendship. This is an elaborate literary novel, sure to garner a cult following, drawing together Irish traditions of linguistic whimsy and ironic fantasy, with a modern hysterical realist style. Coll has an unmistakably distinctive voice, and with unrivalled linguistic flair he expertly combines the tenderness and simplicity of a child with the cynicism and gloom of an old man. The Abode of Fancy is an auspicious debut and a hilarious, heartbreaking and jaw-dropping read. Extracts from the novel have been featured in Granta and The Stinging Fly
